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Case Study

ACCA
Case Study

Konexis Strategic Roadmap client ACCA
Strategic Roadmap ACCA

Industry:

Finance

Key Points:

  • ACCA communication gap cost estimated to exceeded £2 million. 
  • Konexis roadmap reduced strategic plan approval time by 47%.
  • 180 hours saved and a 3X ROI. 
Strategic Roadmap ACCA

Industry:

Finance

Key Points:

  • ACCA communication gap cost estimated to exceeded £2 million. 
  • Konexis roadmap reduced strategic plan approval time by 47%.
  • 180 hours saved and a 3X ROI. 

The Challenge

When the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) approached Konexis in June 2024, they were facing a critical business challenge that threatened their multi-year transformation programme. With 6,500 employees spanning six continents across Europe, Asia, and Africa, ACCA had developed comprehensive technical strategies to support their global operations— the three year plan had stalled. 

The Problem

The core problem wasn’t in the strategies themselves, but in how they were being communicated. The IT Strategy Team had created detailed three-year roadmaps, but found themselves unable to effectively demonstrate how these technical initiatives aligned with broader business objectives. Without this clarity, business stakeholders throughout the company couldn’t confidently evaluate or approve strategic decisions. 

This communication gap was creating expensive bottlenecks. The organisation calculated that delays in strategic decision-making were had already cost approximately £190,000, with potential downstream impacts exceeding £2 million over the subsequent years. The multi-year transformation programme had numerous potential configurations, but without effective tools to compare and evaluate these options, reaching consensus on priorities proved nearly impossible. 

Some of the key decisions that were being impacted by this delay included: 

  • They were unable to create the leading products needed to position ACCA members at the forefront of a highly trusted and dynamic profession. 

  • Their initiatives to inspire and attract new talent to join ACCA’s thriving and inclusive global community were stalling. 

  • Their ability to connect employers with the right talent and expertise to drive sustainable success was significantly compromised 

"

“We always struggled to get business buy-in for our transformation roadmaps. They never seemed very interested in what we produced. However, the first time we presented a set of strategic roadmaps in Konexis to our senior leadership team, I was asked to return and give an update in three months. This had never happened before in all my time working here.”

"

Jonny Malabar
Director of Strategy and Architecture,
ACCA

The problem with the previous approach

  • Decision Paralysis: The issue that they were facing was that with 112 potential initiatives across eight domains and 6 countries over the next 3 years, none of the traditional options worked in being able to show all together, cohesively and understandably so executives faced with a lack of understanding were not able to make decisions.
     
  • Misaligned Tactical Execution: There was a relatively detailed strategic plan, but the company were having challenges linking all the initiatives back to the strategy or show casing why something should not go ahead as it did not align with the objectives.
  • Unreadable, Confusing Plans: They had previously tried the GANT Chart view and used some well-known Roadmap tools, which, while able to capture all the options, stretched over seven pages. This created confusion for many people of which one described it “like watching a tennis match” due to constant back and forth.
  • Priority Identification Failure: An on a page view could be PowerPoint, but the sheer volume of information presented simultaneously made it impossible for anyone other than the people who produced the roadmap to understand it.  
  • Existing Tool Limitations: They tried their EA Tool, but issues around missing data and accessibility for non-architects, as well as a frustrating creation experience, made it a non-starter. 

 

So, the ACCA turned to Konexis.  Over the course of three months, it had brought about some fantastic benefits. 

Implementation

The implementation of Konexis is a reasonably seamless exercise that occurred the same day the invoice was signed. The Konexis onboarding team helped set up the original roadmaps and was on hand to suggest ways to improve.  

The main challenge involved the initial scepticism of some senior executives, who were accustomed to seeing Roadmaps in static PowerPoint files. Initially, it was rejected using the read-only link from Konexis.  Once that was overcome, ACCA starting to see the benefits of how an interactive roadmap increases understanding and drives decisions faster 

The Results

  • Hundreds of hours across a team of 6 were saved from having to work and rework PowerPoint Roadmaps.  Approx 180 hours and 3x ROI on cost savings alone within three months.  This enabled the Enterprise Architecture team to focus on higher value work relating to the buy in and consensus of the roadmap.

  • There was a significant rise in senior leader engagement. Previously unsure of the enterprise architecture practice’s purpose, they now ask pertinent feasibility questions thanks to Konexis’ clear outputs, and it ability to filter information that is only relevant to the people being presented to.

  • Key programmes such as the talent nurturing were finally agreed upon.
     
  • The time to get a strategic roadmap approved and into portfolio delivery was reduced by 47%.

  • For the first time, the architecture practice was invited to the quarterly CxO strategic planning meetings to discuss the progress of the roadmap.  The consistent feel and branding of the roadmaps, as well as their ease of understanding, were mentioned as key reasons.

  • After seeing the success of the work in the Architecture function, the Business Transformation team now uses Konexis, creating a series of interconnected roadmaps that detail the transformation additionally and across the business with the work packages needed to deliver the change.

  • Using Single Sign-On, a “big picture” version of the strategic roadmap is hosted on the company’s Intranet and accessible to all employees, which, in the space of two months, has had four times more interaction than the strategic plan.  This has democratised the roadmap and addressed one of the key issues of any plan, demonstrating how a team’s work aligns with the broader picture. 

"

“My team achieved what previously took two days in BizzDesign in just one hour with Konexis. Despite initial scepticism, the efficiency gains alone justified our investment.”

"

Martin Daniels
Lead Enterprise Architect
ACCA

What's Next?

Now that the strategic roadmap has been agreed upon, it serves as a key communication tool to update and communicate any changes or additional initiatives required.  Its rollout means that all stakeholders can contribute to the bigger picture. 

Konexis has also taken on some of the feedback from the ACCA and is implementing significant improvements in H1 2025 detailed on our product roadmap. 

What they said

“We always struggled to get business buy-in for our transformation roadmaps. They never seemed very interested in what we produced. However, the first time we presented a set of strategic roadmaps in Konexis to our senior leadership team, I was asked to return and give an update in three months. This had never happened before in all my time working here.”

Jonny Malabar,
Director of Strategy and Architecture, ACCA

“My team achieved what previously took two days in BizzDesign in just one hour with Konexis. Despite initial scepticism, the efficiency gains alone justified our investment.”

Martin Daniels,
Lead Enterprise Architect, ACCA

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woman on phone discussing transformation maps